Congressional leaders shift recovery focus to education, health care

Ted Jackson/The Times-PicayuneU.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, part of a Congressional delegation visiting New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, visits with 9th Ward resident Valerie Schexnayder

Eleven months after Valerie Schexnayder rushed up to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the middle of a 9th Ward street and begged her to listen, Pelosi was back in New Orleans on Monday, standing with Schexnayder in her brand new home.

Schexnayder told Pelosi her struggles with the Road Home had turned desperate: She wasn't getting housing aid because the state was running out of money. A few weeks after the Pelosi visit, the 61-year-old got a $124,000 check from Louisiana's federally financed program. Two months after that, Congress sent the cash-strapped program an additional $3 billion.

"What an inspiration she is to all of us," Pelosi said as she toured the home that replaced the one that floated down Reynes Street during Katrina.

Now, nearly three years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, local leaders are again trying to show why Washington should send more help to Louisiana. Pelosi and other congressional leaders promised to turn their focus to health care and education needs.

But they continue to deal with other state requests. Gov. Bobby Jindal said Monday that his top priority is to persuade his former congressional colleagues to give the state 30 years to pay its $1.8 billion share of levee construction costs, rather than the three years signed into law last month.

The congressional group also met over the weekend with New Orleans criminal justice officials, some of whom were disappointed when the House removed from the Senate version of the emergency war spending bill $300 million in hurricane recovery money, including, $17.7 million to double the size of city drug courts, add drug rehabilitation beds, build detention centers for nonviolent juveniles, expand the district attorney's staff and improve the Police Department's technological capabilities.

Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said the Democratic leadership agreed to remove the provisions when the White House threatened a veto.

Clyburn said the Democrats will work to restore the aid in an economic stimulus package working its way through Congress now. Gregory Rusovich, chairman of the New Orleans Crime Coalition and an architect of the criminal justice financing package, cheered that commitment Monday.

"We are very hopeful now, with Speaker Pelosi and Majority Whip Clyburn once again committing to the region, that they will take steps to put money back into the new plan," Rusovich said.

As for the Army Corps of Engineers' $14.7 billion project to build 100-year storm protection by 2011, Jindal said the requirement that Louisiana pay its $1.8 billion share over three years would undercut critical work on coastal wetlands restoration, something for which the state already has dedicated $500 million.

Jindal said he also is lobbying President Bush, a fellow Republican who could solve the issue with a simple executive order, as he presses Pelosi and other Democratic leaders for a legislative fix. He said Pelosi expressed her support Sunday at dinner.

"If ever there was a time to use the provisions in the law (to extend the payment schedule), you'd think this would be the time," Jindal said in an interview Monday. "We're willing to offer up our future OCS (off-shore oil and gas drilling) revenues: They could subtract our payments out of our royalty payments. That would secure a funding source, so there's no impact on the federal budget."

Under Jindal's proposal, Washington would keep Louisiana's revenue from Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas revenues until the $1.8 billion was paid off. Such an arrangement would help Louisiana avoid the need to borrow money, although it would result in the state forfeiting about $20 million a year until 2017, and about $600 million or more each year after 2017 -- until the bill is paid -- as production from new offshore finds increases the state's share of the revenue.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin hoped for a more generous arrangement, arguing that the state and local governments shouldn't have to pay anything for the levee work.

"While I support the governor's compromise position on federal funding for this protection and appreciate his advocacy, I believe that this city and this region deserve 100 percent federal funding for this flood protection system," Nagin said.

Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, said Monday that he believes that when all negotiations are complete, Louisiana will be absolved from any cost-share obligations.

Members of the congressional delegation visited Xavier University on Monday and pledged to help the leaders of nine local institutions of higher learning.

Xavier is looking for a flood insurance waiver that was already extended to the state's K-12 schools. Pelosi committed to creating a nationwide higher-education disaster loan fund, similar to one created for historically black colleges after the 2005 storms.

Speaking for his counterparts, Xavier President Norman Francis told the delegation that universities still need help to overcome Hurricane Katrina's devastation. The nine local institutions suffered a combined $700 million in damage and $300 million in lost revenue in the first year after the storm.

Xavier's enrollment is recovering slowly. It had 900 students in its freshman class in the fall of 2005 and that fell to 450 in the year after Katrina struck. The freshman count went back to 670 in the fall of 2007 and is expected to reach 800 this fall, Francis said.

The delegation also braved the midday heat at a Louisiana State University community health clinic in eastern New Orleans. The modular facility was built with federal aid, and clinic officials thanked Congress. But that section of the city is still 10 miles from the nearest hospital.

"If you're out here having a cardiac situation, you'll probably be dead by the time you get to the emergency room," City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis told the congressional representatives.

While New Orleans has far to go in restoring its downtown hospital corridor, local leaders said community clinics represent a post-Katrina success, helping bring better care to traditionally underserved groups.

Clayton Williams, director of health systems development for the Louisiana Public Health Institute, said a $100 million grant helped launch the initiative. It features 70 sites run by 25 organizations in an effort to bring primary care to low-income populations.

Rep. Donna Christensen, a physician who represents the Virgin Islands, said New Orleans could become a model for bridging the gap in care, but expressed concern about improving electronic medical records.

Williams said Bush's Office of Management and Budget stepped in and prohibited the $100 million grant from being used for improving health technology. Clyburn said a new provision is being considered in Washington specifically to finance health technology improvements.

Jefferson said he'll push to restore $500 million for affordable housing in the stimulus package being debated in Congress.

David Hammer can be reached at dhammer@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3322.